Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS (Japanese: 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ for Nintendo 3DSGreat Melee Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS) and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Japanese: 大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ for Wii UGreat Melee Smash Brothers for Wii U) are a pair of fighting video games for Nintendo's eighth-generation video game consoles, the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, which together comprise the fourth entry in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games pitting characters from Nintendo's various franchises against each other. The Nintendo 3DS version was released internationally between September 2014 and October 2014, while the Wii U version was released internationally a month later in November 2014, and in Japan on December 6th.

Characters

The two versions contain a total of forty-nine playable characters within the core game, although with the announcement of optionally available downloadable content, fifty-six characters are available for use overall. Some of the playable roster changes were the result of technical limitations: because the Nintendo 3DS hardware was unable to support characters changing mid-battle, the characters Sheik and Zero Suit Samus were separated from Zelda and Samus and turned into their own unique characters. Similarly, the Pokémon Trainer, whose entire gameplay in Super Smash Bros. Brawl revolved around character switching, did not return, and neither did two of his controlled Pokémon (Ivysaur and Squirtle), while the third, Charizard, was retained as a separate character. For similar technical reasons, the popular Ice Climbers were completely cut.

Six playable characters originate from the Fire Emblem series, with two as DLC: a number matched or surpassed only by Nintendo heavyweight series Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Pokémon.

Playable cast

Characters making their Super Smash Bros. debut in these two games are listed in bold. Characters who need to be unlocked in both versions are marked with a ‡. Characters who need to be unlocked in the 3DS version, but ate starters in the Wii U version are marked with an asterisk. Characters are available for separate purchase through downloadable content are marked with a §.

Marth

Marth makes his third Super Smash Bros. appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, confirmed in Masahiro Sakurai's "pic of the day" post on November 7th, 2013;[6] For the first time, Marth is available on the game's starting roster and does not need to be unlocked. He was the only Fire Emblem character playable in the E3 2014 demo builds of the two games.

For this appearance, coming after his most recent appearances in the two Fire Emblem remakes for Nintendo DS, he has received a significant redesign and now appears as he does in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. In the transition to these two games, Marth is widely considered to have sustained significant nerfs to his prowess in gameplay, likely in response to the dominant role he played in the prior two games: most prominently, Falchion's blade length has been decreased, hampering Marth's range, which in prior games was central to his success. He is also slightly slower and has slightly laggier moves.

Roy

After his debut in Super Smash Bros. Melee, Roy was absent from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and in the initial releases of Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, he was again absent from being a playable fighter. However, in 2015 he returned as paid downloadable content, released on June 14th, 2015 alongside Ryu from the Street Fighter and Lucas from Mother 3. Prior to their release, Roy and Ryu were inadvertently leaked when Nintendo uploaded version 1.0.8 of for Wii U to their eShop servers early and hackers extracted its contents.[7]

Roy now sports a revised design which is primarily based on his original appearance in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade, with elements of his Awakening DLC design added. Unlike Lucina, his fellow clone of Marth, he has been reworked to distance himself from Marth in both aesthetics and gameplay, which now makes him a "semi-clone". In many of his attacks he now slashes with a reverse grip, altering his range, and some of his moves are completely new and different from Marth, such as his new down aerial attack. Like Marth, his range is now shorter than what he had in Melee, but he compensates for this with drastic increases to his speed, allowing him to act as the close-quarters fighter he was originally intended to be. He also gains a Final Smash, Critical Hit, which is radically different from Marth and Lucina's version of the move in both style and function, and imitates his critical hit animation with the Binding Blade from his native game.

Ike

Ike makes his second Super Smash Bros. appearance in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, confirmed in a "pic of the day" post on May 23rd, 2014.[8] Like Marth and Roy, he has experienced a significant design overhaul compared to his appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl: instead of being based on his original, younger apperance in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, he instead appears as he does three years later in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Additionally, his flame-based attacks have been changed to involve blue fire to more accurately reflect the events of his native games.

Ike's gameplay has changed very little since Brawl. He is still a slow, heavy and relatively immobile character whose attacks are sluggish but deal extreme damage. He has received slight buffs to his agility compared to Brawl, though his sluggishness is still his defining trait. His raw power is further augmented by the new rage mechanic, which gives his attacks even more knockback when he has sustained high damage while his considerable bulk makes him harder to knock out while in this state.

Robin

Revealed in a trailer on July 14th, 2014 alongside Lucina and Captain Falcon, Robin from Fire Emblem Awakening is a newcomer playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U under the name Robin, available from the beginning on the default roster for both versions. Both male and female variants will be playable, and the player can choose which one they want to play at will; both versions are completely identical in terms of gameplay.

Robin is a slow and sluggish fighter who specializes in attacking at range with a number of projectiles. Unlike all other Fire Emblem playable characters, Robin primarily wields a variety of magic tomes to cast in their special moves, as well as using a Bronze Sword in their physical attacks, also using a Levin Sword for their strongest smash attacks. Robin is uniquely affected by an emulation of the Fire Emblemdurability system, and each use of their tomes and Levin Sword will wear them down until they break, after which Robin must wait a few seconds for them to be restored. In their Final Smash, Robin summons Chrom to assist them in a Pair Up assault.

Lucina

Lucina, the tritagonist of Fire Emblem Awakening, was revealed as one of two Fire Emblem newcomers in a trailer on July 14th, 2014 alongside Robin and Captain Falcon. She is a straight clone of her ancestor Marth, sharing all of his attacks with identical motions and only slight variations in her parameters. Her key difference is that unlike Marth, whose blade is most effective at its tip, Lucina's blade has no such mechanic and every part of it will deal equal damage. Director Masahiro Sakurai confirmed in his column in Famitsu that Lucina was originally planned simply as an alternative costume for Marth, but as development progressed, her attributes were altered to diverge from Marth's, leading to Sakurai's decision to turn her into her own separate character.[9]

Corrin

Revealed in the last Super Smash Bros for 3DS and Wii U presentation on December 15th, 2015 alongside Bayonetta, Corrin is a newcomer playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U under the name Corrin. They and will be available as DLC some time in February 2016. Both male and female variants will be playable, and the player can choose which one they want to play at will; both versions will be completely identical in terms of gameplay. Corrin is the first Manakete-style character in Super Smash Bros, using their draconic powers for various attacks, like transforming their hands into claws or sprouting wings from their back, imitating the effects of the Dragon Fang skill from Fire Emblem Fates.

Stages

The two versions feature three Fire Emblem stages between them, one for the Nintendo 3DS version and two for the Wii U version. Each of these stages is exclusive to its specific version, as each version focuses on different games for its stages; the Nintendo 3DS version focuses on stages from hand-held games, while the Wii U version bases most of its stages on home console games.[10] During development, director Masahiro Sakurai alleged that the series' diversity of locations and the lack of height supposedly found in said locations is the reason for the majority of Fire Emblem stages being generic creations original to the Super Smash Bros. series.[11]

The Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem stage is the Arena Ferox, from Fire Emblem Awakening. Unlike its Awakening appearance, the arena consists of a large stone platform in the middle of a deep pit, better facilitating the gameplay of Super Smash Bros. The stage periodically transforms between four configurations which have different arrays of platforms above the main stage body.

Coliseum

The Coliseum (Japanese: 闘技場Arena) is the Wii U version's Fire Emblem stage. It is a desert combat stadium based on the series' recurring combat arenas. It follows in the footsteps of the Castle Siege stage from Brawl by presenting itself as a generic amalgam of arena motifs from across the series, and is not based on any one location in particular, nor could it be given the generic status of arenas in the source material. A set of gear-driven mechanisms underneath the stage regularly raise and lower portions of the floor to create platforms and adjust the surface level of the stage.

Castle Siege

Castle Siege (Japanese: 攻城戦Siege), the first Fire Emblem stage in the entire Super Smash Bros. series, returns from Super Smash Bros. Brawl to appear in the Wii U version. As with Coliseum, it is a generic pastiche of design motifs from the series, this time focusing on castles. It functions the same way it did in Brawl, as a travelling stage that shifts between three parts: the exterior castle ramparts, a grand hall inside the castle, and a precarious stone balanced over a lava pit deep beneath the castle.

Items

Assist Trophies

Assist Trophies are non-playable characters who can be summoned temporarily into a battle using the Assist Trophy item, in order to aid their summoner. As in Brawl, one Fire Emblem character is available as an Assist Trophy.

Collectibles

Trophies

Each version of the game hosts an array of collectible trophies depicting content from the game series represented in Super Smash Bros., including some Fire Emblem trophies. Trophies are merely aesthetic rewards, giving short biographies of the characters or items they depict. Certain trophies are only available through downloadable content, accompanying the characters they depict, and these are marked with a §.

Both versions

Six trophies are available in both versions of the game, all of which depict a character present in Super Smash Bros. in some form, playable or otherwise.

Nintendo 3DS only

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS contains a total of nineteen Fire Emblem trophies, including the ten listed above. In the Nintendo 3DS version, the four Alt trophies (one for each playable character, further describing their Super Smash Bros. gameplay and depicting them in a alternate costume) are available by clearing All-Star Mode with that characer. All Nintendo 3DS Fire Emblem trophies not connected to playable characters or Assist Trophies exclusively depict content from Fire Emblem Awakening, ignoring all other games in the series.

Wii U exclusive

The Wii U version's array of Fire Emblem trophies is currently known to consist of thirteen trophies, including the six universal trophies listed above. Unlike the Nintendo 3DS version, clearing All-Star Mode with each character awards them with a trophy depicts them performaing their Final Smashes, as in Brawl. In the Wii U version, the four Alt trophies are available for purchase with in-game Coins in the Trophy Shop, after clearing Classic or All-Star Mode with the characters.

Fire Emblem: This fast-paced medley of the "Come, Join Us" and the Fire Emblem Theme originating from Super Smash Bros. Melee returns once again. It is the alternate music track for the Arena Ferox, which has a small chance of playing in battles there and can be forced to play by holding the R button when selecting the stage.

With Mila's Divine Protection (Celica Map 1): The Super Smash Bros. Brawl rendition of the map theme used in Celica's battles in Fire Emblem Gaiden returns once again. It is used as one of many optional soundtracks for the game's Smash Run mode, and does not appear on a normal stage.

Lost in Thoughts All Alone §: A remixed version of Azura's signature song. It is an optional soundtrack for Smash Run and does not play on a normal stage. It is available only if Corrin has been downloaded.

Fire Emblem Victory: Ported directly from Brawl, this brief portion of the Fire Emblem Theme is used once again as Marth, Ike, Robin, Lucina, Roy, and Corrin's victory fanfare.

Fight 1 (Fire Emblem Gaiden): A cover of the player-phase battle theme from Fire Emblem Gaiden. It is played on Coliseum, and is also among the tracks listed which will appear in the Wii U version's soundtrack CD release.[5]

Meeting Theme Series Medley: A medley of recruitment themes from across the series. It is played on Coliseum.

Victory Is Near: An overworld theme from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance played in certain chapters when close to completion, completely unaltered from its original appearance, returns from Brawl. It is played on Castle Siege.

Lost in Thoughts All Alone §: Azura's trademark song comes in two versions: a shortened version with some of the lyrics removed, and a remixed version without vocals. As with the full version in Fates, the shortened version is sung by Renka in the Japanese version and by Rena Strober in the English version. Both versions are available only if Corrin has been downloaded and play on Castle Siege and Coliseum.

Fire Emblem Victory: Ported directly from Brawl, this brief portion of the Fire Emblem Theme is used once again as Marth, Ike, Robin, Lucina, Roy, and Corrin's victory fanfare.

Masterpieces

The Japanese version of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light playable as a Masterpiece, a free time-limited trial of the game, available from the beginning. The demo allows at least 123 seconds of gameplay in Chapter 1 of the game, giving players a small taste of Marth's origins. Owing to the game's Japan-exclusive status, this Masterpiece was not included in international releases of Smash Bros; it is the only Japan-exclusive Masterpiece.

Fire Emblem reveal trailers

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U has a tradition of unveiling new fighters in cinematic trailers which were released live during Nintendo Direct presentations or other similar events. Prior to release, these trailers consisted of unique animated vignettes involving the new fighters which, after a splash screen proclaiming their entrance into the game with an amusing tagline, would go on to show the character in action in gameplay. Post-release trailers, which deal exclusively in DLC characters, do not have the opening vignettes and instead consist entirely of gameplay.

Two of these trailers have been released which are devoted to Fire Emblem characters: the first for Lucina and Robin, and the second for Roy.

By Book, Blade and Crest of Flame

By Book, Blade and Crest of Flame (Japanese: 剣と魔法と炎の紋章Sword and Magic and the Fire Emblem) first debuted as a live streaming event on the Super Smash Bros. website on July 14th, 2014. Revealing both Robin and Lucina as new playable characters, as well as confirming the return of F-Zero character Captain Falcon, it was the eighth in a series of similar trainers introducing newcomers to the series. Like its predecessors it is divided into two parts: a unique animated introduction segment introducing the two characters, followed by a demonstration of the two characters in action in actual Super Smash Bros. gameplay; the animated introduction was produced by the studio anima, who were previously responsible for the cutscenes in Awakening.[14]

The trailer opens in the Arena Ferox as Lucina duels with Captain Falcon to protect her father, Chrom, who is seen severely wounded presumably after being defeated by Falcon. Despite her trouble keeping up with Captain Falcon's power, Lucina resolves to keep fighting and lunges at Falcon, who deflects her blow and knocks her off balance with a kick. Before Falcon can unleash a Falcon Punch to finish her off, he is interrupted by a blast of Elwind from above. The blast is revealed to come from Robin, who slowly descends from above and brandishes his Levin Sword to engage Falcon in battle.

The gameplay segment mostly focuses on introducing Robin's unique playstyle and variety of usable tomes, before moving onto a brief introduction of Lucina which demonstrates her status as a clone of Marth. The segment concludes with Lucina and Robin confronting Marth and Ike, cutting to the game's logo. After the logo, a further segment reveals that, despite his own doubts that he would ever get a chance to participate, Chrom will still appear as part of Robin's Final Smash and that a female version of Robin is also playable.

Roy seals the deal!

Roy proclaims his return to Super Smash Bros.

Roy seals the deal! (Japanese: ロイ参戦!!Roy Joins the Battle!!) debuted at the start of the "New Content Approaching!" streaming event, which was broadcast on June 14th, 2015 in the prelude to the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015. As its title suggests, it revealed Roy's return as a downloadable character. Like the other DLC character trailers, it deals exclusively in actual gameplay footage. Roy speaks several times in the trailer, but exclusively in Japanese as he still lacks an English voice; the English version of the trailer subtitles all of his lines.

The trailer opens with Marth, Ike, Lucina and Robin fighting against each other in a free-for-all on the Coliseum stage, which is interrupted by somebody shouting "Don't forget about me!" This, of course, is Roy, who emerges into Coliseum through a wall of fire and prepares to join the fight. After humorously attacking Roy Koopa, a playable character who shares his name, Roy is shown in action, highlighting his changes from and differences compared to Marth. It ends with Roy executing his Final Smash, Critical Hit, and then declaring that "For those I must protect... I cannot lose!"

Corrin Chooses to Smash!

Corrin Chooses to Smash (Japanese: カムイ参戦！！Kamui Joins the Battle!!) debuted at the beginning of the Smash Bros. Final Presentation, on December 15th, 2015. The trailer starts similarly to Chapter 6 of Fire Emblem Fates, with the Hoshidan and Nohrian royals attempting to persuade him to join them. The options of Defend Hoshido, Fight for Nohr and Refuse to choose a side are shown, but after a few seconds a fourth option, Join the battle in Smash, is added. Corrin goes on to choose said option. They go on to fight multiple characters in the game with both of their families talking to him.

Trivia

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS marks the first time any Fire Emblem content has appeared on the box art for a Super Smash Bros. game, with Marth himself making an appearance. Marth is also present on an expanded version of the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U box art, but the game's retail case does not have him on its front cover.